Letter to the Editor: Another Bad Week for Taxpayers

It was another bad week for Pennsylvania taxpayers. Just the other day it was reported that Governor Tom Wolf handed out huge salary increases to his top staffers. I am not talking about 5-10% raises that might be more common in the private sector.

Several staffers received individual raises between $25,000 and $33,000. One example is the Governor’s Director of Scheduling. The person holding that position made $93,203 at the end of 2018. Now, their salary has ballooned to $125,028, an increase of 35%!

When I read stories like this, it is easy to understand why so many people are apathetic to our state government and what is happening in Harrisburg. It is easy to be cynical considering the timing, when the Governor just got re-elected to his second and final term, meaning he won’t have to face the voters again.

Equally frustrating, on numerous occasions, our Governor has asked Pennsylvanians for more of their hard-earned money. Wolf has proposed tax increases on families and businesses consistently over the past 4 and a half years.

The nerve of the Governor to ask for more money from middle-class families and small businesses trying to create jobs, while he hands out $30,000 pay raises to his friends is unacceptable.

The people of Pennsylvania deserve better. We need to stand up and support candidates and elected officials who work to protect taxpayers and fight for good government. Our Governor has failed to do that.

If you strip away the labels and isms and meta tags, what are you left with? Are you strong and free enough as an individual to survive the loss of all those crutches and maintain reason and meaning? Can you use the power of thought and choice to walk the road of life?